The wild landscapes of
Russia have inspired writers, mystified poets,
fascinated scientists, impressed artists and awed
photographers. A number of Russian, American and
other photographers have contributed their images
of wild Russia in hopes of spreading the word about
these important places and the urgent need to save
them. Learn more about the photographers who have
joined the Center for Russian Nature Conservation
in promoting the protection of wild Russia.

A native of Southern California, artist and author Robert Glenn
Ketchum has maintained a residence and studio in Los Angeles
for forty-seven years while pursuing projects worldwide. He
received his B.A. cum laude from UCLA, his MFA from California
Institute of the Arts. Ketchum is known for his brilliant images
of pristine and degraded landscapes, from Alaskan icebergs to
the Hudson River. He has published six of his own books, including
The Legacy of Wilderness, The Tongass: Alaskays Vanishing Rainforest,
and more recently, Northwest Passage. Ketchum straddles two
worlds, combining art with advocacy in order to make a case
for nature conservation. An outspoken environmentalist, Ketchum
is an ally to many environmental organizations.

Boyd Norton published his first photograph (Audubon Magazine)
in 1965 while still working as a nuclear physicist. A full-time
photographer and writer since 1970, he is the author/photographer
of 13 highly acclaimed books. His work has appeared in most
major magazines in this country and abroad. He runs his own
stock photo business with a file of nearly 400,000 pictures
from locales worldwide. He also conducts photography workshops
in such places as Alaska, Siberia, Borneo, Bali, Kenya, Tanzania,
and Peru.

Igor Shpilenok is the founder of the Bryansky
Les Zapovednik, which he directed for 11 years. A former
school teacher, Igor grew up and attended the university in
the Bryansk region. His skill and art in his photography is
bolstered by his profound knowledge of, and love for, the wild
landscapes -- and their residents -- surrounding him. His photographs,
used to adorn otherwise bleak bus and railway stations, played
an important role in his campaign ten years ago to create this
nature reserve. Today Igor continues to be a major supporter
of environmental education, using his photographs and his own
writings, published in the local press and a Russian children's
nature magazine, to inspire and teach the general public about
nature conservation. More on Igor Shpilenok

Andrey Nechaev was born in 1954 in Russia. He studied physics
and received a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences. Since 1974, he has
participated in many expeditions to the Russian North and Far
East. Andrey started photographing nature professionally since
1984. He is the author of two photo books on Kamchatka: Kamchatka
(Desertina: Disentis, Switzerland, 1994); and Miracles of Kamchatka
Land (Logata: Moscow, Russia, 1999). A journalist and author
of many articles on travels around Russian and other countries
(Kenya, Mexico, Greece, Spain, and France), Andrey recently
opened his own private printing company "Logata", which specializes
in publishing books and brochures on nature and the animal world.

Rob Badger, a self taught artist, has photographed the beauty
of the earth and its accelerating destruction for 35 years.
His ability to emotionally portray the essence of a place in
time has won him international awards for his Antarctica series,
and "best in journalism" for his evocative environmental photography,
work that is simultaneously beautiful and disturbing. Using
both aerial and ground perspectives Rob's powerful imagery focuses
primarily on conservation, population and environmental issues.
His series "Mining on Public Land" documenting the toxic legacy
of mining in America, was presented at the National Press Club
in Washington, D.C. for the Sierra Club to promote federal mining
law reform. Rob's images have appeared in Time, OMNI, Newsweek
and Wilderness Society Magazines. His current project, funded
by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, documents the endangered
National Wild and Scenic Eel River, California's third largest
river.

Born in Hamm, Germany in 1975, Hendrik Zeitler developed a
particular interest in the wildlife and landscapes of the North
while hiking through Sweden's national parks and traveling to
Alaska. After completing his education and studying photography
in Germany, he enrolled in the School for Photography and Film
in Gothenburg, Sweden. Inspired by artists like Richard Misrach,
Susan Meiselas, Sebastiao Salgado, and Nan Goldin, Zeitler seeks
to use his photography to branch out from society's historical
and social constraints, and therein combines photography with
political engagement in environmental, animal rights, feminist,
and anti-fascist movements. In addition to volunteering in non-profit
organizations, he travels to Alaska regularly and makes his
photographs public in periodic magazine publications, gallery
showings, and photography festivals.

Nikita Ovsyanikov has lived with polar bears on Wrangel and
Herald Islands in the Arctic Circle for parts of each year since
1990. He never carries a rifle, but instead chooses to
walk among bears, interacting with them as one animal to another. Born
in Vienna, Austria, he is a Russian citizen. He holds a Ph.D.in
Zoology from the Institute of Animal Evolutionary Morphology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His first expedition
to Wrangel Island was in 1977, when he launched a 10 year study
on Arctic foxes. He published a book on polar bears called Living
with the White Bear in 1996, illustrated with his own pictures. Nikita
enjoys traveling, canoeing, and downhill skiing. He is
perhaps the only person ever to downhill ski on Wrangel Island.

Konstantin Mikhailov is an ornithologist by training and works
today to conserve nature in the Siberian and Far East regions
of Russia. Konstantin leads regular expeditions to remote nature
reserves in Russia with the Dersu Uzala Ecotoursim Development
Fund (www.ecotours.ru).
He writes on nature for a number of Russian and foreign nature
magazines, including the German magazines Der Falke and Terra,
illustrating them with his beautiful photographs. Konstantin
is the author of two recent books on ecotourism: Ecotouring
in Russia: Altai-Sayan-Tuva Regions (in English) and Nature
of the Caucasus (in Russian).

Yuri Artukhin is a graduate of the Department
of Biology of Moscow State University. He obtained a PhD in
ornithology, where he specialized in populations of nesting
birds on the Komondor Islands. Today, Yuri is a Senior Scientist
at the Ornitology Laboratory of the Kamchatka Institute of
Ecology and Nature Use. Yuri has one of the largest collections
in Russia of slides of marine birds in the Russian Far East.
In 2004, Yuri’s photos
were published in the book Kamchatka . The World of Wild
Nature (Yu. Artukhin, V. Bykasov, and A. Ladygin. Tipograf
Publishers, Moscow , 2004).

Kevin Cormier was born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1971, where
he grew up with with a deep appreciation for nature. He now
lives in France where he works as a telecommunications engineer,
while striving to become a professional nature photographer.
Kevin won first prize in the birds category in the 2002 competition
of the International Federation of Wildlife Photography.

Peter Prokosch is head of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Germany.
Peter has spearheaded conservation efforts in the circumpolar
arctic region and was a catalyst for creating new zapovedniks
in the Russian Arctic.

Yuri Shibnev is a zoologist who has been photographing wildlife
in the Russian Far East for 20 years. He specializes in photography
of rare animals such as the leopard and Blakiston's fish owl.
Yuri's pictures of the rare leopard have been published in Terra
and BBC Wildlife magazines and elsewhere.